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He’s a favorite of ours: for his songwriting, his spirit, and his multi-talented music prowess. Will is known as a great producer (including for Shemekia Copeland’s last three albums), a guitarist (including for Emmylou Harris for her recent tours), and as a member of Daddy and Willie Sugarcapps among other projects. Now we have his 11th full-length solo album, and he’ll be performing in Asheville on June 17th!

After 10 studio albums, several EPs, and more than two decades as a band, The Avett Brothers have stamped their own name on their 11th album, the follow-up to 2019’s Closer Than Together. It marks a return to their original label, Ramseur Records, which is releasing the album in conjunction with American Recordings and Thirty Tigers. Rick Rubin was their producer once again, and they recorded it at Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, with other work done in Nashville, Los Angeles, and the band’s hometown of Concord, North Carolina. Scott Avett created the illustration featured on the album’s cover. Does it define the band better than any of their previous ones, as self-titled albums are often intended to do? Get to know it with us and decide!

Here’s another favorite band of ours since they formed in Miami back in 1989, the same year WNCW was born. We love their Americana/roots fusion of alternative and outlaw country, rock, blues, R&B and Tejano/Tex-Mex influences, and Raul Malo and the rest of the band are back with their 13th album. They’ve already got quite a full sound on their own, but they’re also joined by featured guests Sierra Ferrell, Maggie Rose, Nicole Atkins, and Max Abrams. It was recorded in Louisiana, Santa Fe, and their hometown of Nashville.

Greenville, South Carolina’s own Marcus King has opened up more than ever in telling his story and addressing his demons in the songs on this new album, the appropriately titled Mood Swings. Anxiety, depression, past relationships, they’re all bared out in these lyrics. Is it blues? Soul? Southern Rock?

Imagine that sweet, warm sound of Norah Jones recordings, with a psychedelic garage-soul sound this time. Fuzz guitars and other retro-60s sounds sync up wonderfully with Norah’s piano and voice here. “The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep.” says Jones. “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon (Michels, the producer), the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that's where he's coming from, but also not overly perfected.”

Baltimore native Cris Jacobs has a collection of powerful songs and moving character sketches here. He’s also got quite the house band backing him up: The Infamous Stringdusters. They’re also joined by friends Billy Strings, Sam Bush, Lee Ann Womack, the McCrary Sisters, Lindsay Lou, and more. “I’ve always found so much comfort in roots music––in string band music,” Jacobs says. “There’s just something about the sound of all those instruments together that resonates with me to my core and brings me grounding and peace.”

It’s the 10th solo album from Englishman Mark Knopfler, following his great period fronting Dire Straits. You’ve also heard him providing soundtrack work for films like “The Princess Bride” and “Local Hero”. Mark of course handles the guitars on these new tracks, with Jim Cox and Guy Fletcher on keyboards, Glenn Worf on bass, Ian Thomas on drums, Danny Cummings on percussion, Richard Bennett on guitar and Greg Leisz on pedal and lap steel; Mike McGoldrick provides whistle and uilleann pipes and John McCusker plays fiddle, while the Topolski sisters Emma and Tamsin add backing vocals. All songs are written by Knopfler.

Songwriter, author, professor, and Black music historian Alice Randall has released a new book chronicling the Black history of country music: My Black Country. Randall celebrates the often-erased Black musicians who shaped the genre, including the influence of singing cowboys, Pullman porters, gospel choirs, and the women who served as mothers and midwives to the genre. We’ll enjoy spotlighting this companion soundtrack that features new recordings from Allison Russell, Rhiannon Giddens, Valerie June, and Rissi Palmer among others.

Their fifth studio album, and first in five years! It was inspired largely by various observations of New York City. “It’s a reminder that living is frequently messy, and you’ve got to learn to keep going. With Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend have found the odd beauty inside that mess.” – Rolling Stone

One of our most anxiously awaited albums of 2024 so far is out! Across the 12 songs on Trail of Flowers, Sierra brings listeners on a beautifully-untamed, time-bending journey of resilience, rebirth and reflection, merging classic musicianship with decidedly modern concerns. In her transformation from train-hopping vagabond to viral sensation, she has honed her spellbinding style of storytelling in trailer parks, dive bars, truck stops and everywhere in between, but Trail of Flowers reveals the wealth of wisdom she has amassed along the way.